NRL Grand Final Betting Preview
Telstra Premiership Grand Final, ANZ Stadium, Sunday October 2nd, 2011.
5.15pm – Telstra Premiership Grand Final – Manly Sea Eagles v New Zealand Warriors.
Manly – $1.50
New Zealand – $2.60
Sea Eagles:
Brett Stewart, Michael Robertson, Jamie Lyon (c), Steve Matai, Will Hopoate, Kieran Foran, Daly Cherry-Evans, Joe Galuvao, Matt Ballin, Brent Kite, Anthony Watmough, Tony Williams, Glenn Stewart. Interchange (from): Shane Rodney, Jamie Buhrer, Vic Mauro, George Rose, Darcy Lussick, Tim Robinson
Warriors: Kevin Locke, Bill Tupou, Lewis Brown, Krisnan Inu, Manu Vatuvei, James Maloney, Shaun Johnson, Sam Rapira, Aaron Heremaia, Jacob Lillyman, Feleti Mateo, Simon Mannering (C), Micheal Luck. Interchange (from): Lance Hohaia, Russell Packer, Ben Matulino, Elijah Taylor, Steve Rapira
And then there were two. The Sea Eagles were ultra-impressive last weekend against the Broncos as they have been throughout the 2011 season. They, alongside Melbourne have been the two most consistent sides of the competition. The Manly halves, in Foran and Cherry-Evans continue to go from strength-to-strength and have showed great maturity in the semi-final arena. They have great composure and poise and don’t get flustered by any adversity that may rise during the game. It already has been huge effort from Cherry-Evans to steer a side to a Grand Final in his debut season – a win would just cap off a fairytale season for the young Queenslander. Manly appear to have the perfect mix of youth and experience with 10 players in the 17 with Grand Final experience and 11 with representative experience. They’re in sensational form and will be very hard to beat however if there is a team who can spring an upset, then it’s the New Zealand Warriors.
We’ve said all year that they’re the sleepers of the competition and are a knockout chance come September, well now we’re here and they’re still knocking on the door. Halfback Shaun Johnson has been an absolutely revelation for the Warriors and the way he bamboozled Melbourne’s Kevin Proctor (http://bit.ly/pFW7qf) and turned him inside out to set Lewis Brown up for the winning try was phenomenal from a 20-year-old. The fact that he is playing inside the highly underrated James Maloney cannot be discounted. He’s a tough five-eighth and done a sensational job in steering the Kiwi side around the park while Johnson has found his feet in the top grade in the second half of the season. They’re a super combination and when they were under the pump against the Storm last week, they stuck strong, were composed and directed their team out of trouble. What they lack in finals experience and success, they make up for in speed, talent, youth and numerous players with the ‘x-factor’, attributes that you just can’t coach in a player. A team with the likes of Locke, Inu, Vatuvei, Johnson, Maloney, Mateo can break a game open in the blink of an eye. They’ve picked themselves up from the floor after their hammering at the hands of the Broncos in week 1 of the finals and are coming home with a wet sail. We tipped them last week, and we’re going to tip another upset in the big one. They’ve got too many players that are able to break the game open and if they’re not blown away by the Sea Eagles early, then they’ve got the points to take the NRL Premiership trophy home to the Tasman for the first time in history.
First Try Scorer – Kevin Locke $9
Last Try Scorer – Feleti Mateo $26
Clive Chruchill Medallist – Simon Mannering $15
Best Bet – New Zealand 1-12 $4
Recent Comments